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Q: clone a hard drive

I am wanting to upgrade the hard drive in my mid 2009 13" Mac book pro. I was wondering how I can clone what's already on my hard drive to a new one with out having to send it away?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Oct 10, 2012 10:11 AM

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Q: clone a hard drive

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  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 10, 2012 10:29 AM in response to Prousie
    Level 9 (50,387 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 10, 2012 10:29 AM in response to Prousie

    Get an external drive as large as or larger than your internal, download Carbon Copy Cloner or Superduper. Clone your internal drive to the external. You can use the drive that you want to replace your existing drive as the clone, saves time.

  • by vea1083,

    vea1083 vea1083 Oct 10, 2012 10:35 AM in response to Prousie
    Level 3 (696 points)
    Oct 10, 2012 10:35 AM in response to Prousie

    You can clone your Mac's HDD by going to Disk Utility. Once you have opened the application, go to the Disk Utility sidebar and click your Macintosh HD partition. After selecting the partition, move to the main window and look for the "Restore" tab. If you have done things correctly, the Macintosh HD will appear as the "source". In the "destination" box, you will place (by drag-and-drop) your secondary HDD which should be in the sidebar of Disk Utility as well. When you complete these steps click the "Restore" button and the process should start (keep in mind that the Restore process will delete any data that was previously housed to the destination drive).

     

    Hope you find this information helpful.

     

    As always backing up your data before attempting this process is strongly recommended.

  • by clintonfrombirmingham,

    clintonfrombirmingham clintonfrombirmingham Oct 10, 2012 10:43 AM in response to Prousie
    Level 7 (30,009 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 10, 2012 10:43 AM in response to Prousie

    Both suggestions above will work. If I were you, I'd shop for a new hard drive - and purchase a $20 USB HD enclosure - at OWC. You can put your 'new' internal into the enclosure, clone your drive (using either method, but I prefer Carbon Copy Cloner), install your new drive in your MBP and use your old drive - at least temporarily - as a 'backup' (again using Carbon Copy Cloner).

     

    Just my 2¢...

     

    Clinton

  • by Bimmer 7 Series,

    Bimmer 7 Series Bimmer 7 Series Oct 10, 2012 10:50 AM in response to Prousie
    Level 6 (10,282 points)
    Oct 10, 2012 10:50 AM in response to Prousie

    Click here on how to do the clone....

     

    Just make sure you have an external usb enclosure.

  • by AC502,

    AC502 AC502 Apr 29, 2013 12:11 PM in response to Bimmer 7 Series
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2013 12:11 PM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

    When I startup after cloning and inserting the new drive I'm getting the Question Mark folder icon and can't get past it. Any help would be appreciated!

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 29, 2013 12:30 PM in response to AC502
    Level 9 (50,387 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 29, 2013 12:30 PM in response to AC502

    How did you clone the drive, did you test the clone prior to inserting it?

  • by AC502,

    AC502 AC502 Apr 29, 2013 3:19 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 29, 2013 3:19 PM in response to Csound1

    Carbon Copy to clone.I followed these insturctions on how to do the clone. By holding down the Option key at startup I was able to see and boot from the new drive in the enclosure, but when I install new drive, I get the Question Mark Folder icon.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 29, 2013 3:21 PM in response to AC502
    Level 9 (50,387 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 29, 2013 3:21 PM in response to AC502

    Recheck the internal cable connection, then boot from the original (externally) and use DU to check the internal, but cable issues would be my first idea.

  • by razorPHISH,

    razorPHISH razorPHISH May 1, 2013 12:42 PM in response to Prousie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 1, 2013 12:42 PM in response to Prousie

    I have a bootcamp partition running win 7 and it shows up under the mac HD in the sidebar in disk utility...

     

    320 GB Hitachi...

         MacHD (220 GB)

            Bootcamp (100 GB)

     

    I want to clone both macHD and bootcamp partition.  Would I select the 320 Hitachi as the source, or do i need to clone the mac and bootcamp partitions individually to the new drive?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 1, 2013 12:48 PM in response to razorPHISH
    Level 9 (50,387 points)
    Desktops
    May 1, 2013 12:48 PM in response to razorPHISH

    razorPHISH wrote:

     

    I have a bootcamp partition running win 7 and it shows up under the mac HD in the sidebar in disk utility...

     

    320 GB Hitachi...

         MacHD (220 GB)

            Bootcamp (100 GB)

     

    I want to clone both macHD and bootcamp partition.  Would I select the 320 Hitachi as the source, or do i need to clone the mac and bootcamp partitions individually to the new drive?

     

    7 months have passed since that post, and the poster has not been back.

     

    Try this, as you have a Boot Camp issue you should post in the Boot Camp forum. Make a new post instead of hanging off of the bottom of an old one. You'll stand a better chance of getting help that way.

  • by serenecloud,

    serenecloud serenecloud May 10, 2013 6:21 PM in response to AC502
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 10, 2013 6:21 PM in response to AC502

    I too followed the instructions on https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4122 and had the same issue with the flashing ? folder.

     

    Those instructions are missing a step - how to format your drive. I followed these instructions before doing the carbon copy and now my new drive is working:

     

    Step 1: Format the Target Drive


    ...


    Open Disk Utility. Select the backup drive and click the “Partition” tab. Set the “Volume Scheme” to “1 Partition.” Click “Options” and select “GUID Partition Table” (for Intel-based Macs) or “Apple Partition Map” (for PowerPCs). Give the drive a name (such as “SuperDuper! Backup”) and set the format to “Mac OS Extended (Journaled).” Apply the changes and confirm the actions.


    from http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/hardware-how-to/how-to-make-a-bootable-hard-drive -clone-with-superduper/